Validity of the International Court Systems and its Effects on Human Rights

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My research analyzed current literature regarding the international court of Justice and International Criminal Court in order to measure its validity and effectiveness in enforcing international human rights in today’s global community. In this research, I was able to briefly analyze cases from both courts, analyze existing scholarly work and compare data from existing literature and the CIRI human rights measurements in order to a get a well-rounded analysis of the courts and their affect on international human rights. I had originally hypothesized that these courts’ ratification or signature had no effect on international human rights. However, the data suggested the opposite. But did countries that signed and ratify these treaties have higher respect for human rights to begin with, or did the courts have this positive affect on them? It is possible that the first idea was more plausible, as there are countries that exist who have not signed nor ratified these international court treaties and had consistent high scores on CIRI’s Empowerment Rights index, such as the United States.